WPI Co-Organizes NATO Workshop for Biological and Chemical Threats

Terri Camesano, professor of chemical engineering and dean of graduate studies at WPI and lead organizer and co-chair of the workshop.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute has helped to co-organize a NATO workshop that aims to improve the detection and decontamination of biological and chemical agents.

A part of NATO’s Advanced Research Workshop series, WPI worked with the Georgian National Academy of Sciences to create “Nanotechnology to Aid Chemical and Biological Defense,” which will take place in Antalya, Turkey on September 22-26th.

"Our hope is that by sharing the latest science and discussing the key challenges in the field we can accelerate technology development to help protect people around the world from these terrible threats," said Terri Camesano, professor of chemical engineering and dean of graduate studies at WPI, who is the lead organizer and co-chair of the workshop.

The workshop will focus on nanoscale science and technology as applied to pathogens like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Francisella tularensis (tularemia), and Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax. The goal is to eventually engineer new materials that can detect and defend against many biological and chemical agents at the atomic and molecular levels.

More than 20 leading researchers from Europe and the United States, along with graduate students from their labs and collaborating institutions, will participate in four days of presentations and rigorous discussions on a wide range of aspects relevant to biological and chemical threats. In addition to co-chairing the event, Camesano will present a talk about the potential to use naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides to detect biological threats. The workshop is co-chaired by Giorgi Kvesitadze, president of the Georgian Academy of Sciences in Tiblisi, who will present current research on how certain microorganisms and plants metabolize toxins.

Among the other scientists participating in the workshop are: Robert Botto, of the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency; Levent Kenar of Gulhane Military Medical Academy in Ankara, Turkey; Raj Mutharasan of Drexel University; Mladen Franko of the University of Nova Gorica in Slovenia; Perena Gouma of Stony Brook University; Mario Böhme of Darmstadt University of Technology in Germany; and Giorgio Sberveglieri of the University of Brescia in Italy. Additional information about the workshop and the program of scientific presentations is available here.